Herald News: State slow in allocating funds to schools

IN NOVEMBER 2012, New Jersey voters by overwhelming majority approved a $750 million bond issue for various capital projects for colleges and universities around the state. The money was not all that the higher-education community could have wished for, but it represented the greatest capital outlay for such projects in a generation and thus has been anticipated by colleges, students and faculty across New Jersey.

As Staff Writer Pat Alex reports, however, that initial excitement has been tempered in recent days by a failure to see much in the way of real progress on the part of the state. Nearly 15 months after the bond issue's passage, none of the money approved has been made available to the schools. State legislators such as Senate President Stephen Sweeney and Sen. Paul Sarlo, D-Wood-Ridge, are dismayed at what they perceive as foot-dragging on the part of the Christie administration.

We agree there should be more visible movement on using this money, particularly since it was approved by voter approval in such convincing terms. Indeed, Governor Christie appeared at a groundbreaking at Rutgers University in September that touted projects being funded through borrowing for higher education. In addition to the bond-approved money, the administration has slated other state bonds totaling $550 million for college projects through the Educational Facilities Authority.

Sweeney, a former labor leader, said he had always viewed the projects as a way to "jolt the economy" by adding construction and other jobs to a state where unemployment remains above the national average. The way we remember it is that when the bond issue was being championed by Governor Christie and pitched in bipartisan fashion by everyone from Sweeney to former Gov. Tom Kean, it was billed as a way finally to begin addressing neglected capital needs on New Jersey's college campuses. These upgrades, everyone knew, also carried political freight, as seen by the fact that the lion's share of money was going to Rutgers and to Rowan University, which, as result of the recent merger deal and much political backing, is revamping itself as "research institution" with an expected surge in enrollment over the next decade.

On a more practical matter, given the amount of waste, fraud and abuse that has occurred in spending on capital education projects in the state – the woefully wasteful and mismanaged McGreevey-era Schools Construction Corporation comes to mind – we understand the need for caution expressed by state Secretary of Higher Education Rochelle Hendricks, who explained to a Senate committee last month that paperwork is taking longer than expected. "We want to make sure the contracts are solid and strong," Hendricks said.

Meantime, some state colleges are going ahead with capital projects on their own in the hopes of being reimbursed with bond money when it comes available. Also, some of those schools are choosing to raise tuition to help pay for such projects, hitting New Jersey's middle class families at a time when many remain vulnerable in a slowly recovering economy.

We understand some deliberation is in order when dividing up a large pool of money for state contracts, yet there is no reason why these projects can't be proceeding at a faster rate than they are. New Jersey campuses have waited a generation to see real capital spending by the state; it's a shame to make them keep waiting when the money has been approved by voters, and stands ready to be put to use.